English Verb Tenses

Verb Tenses

Overview

• Verb tenses express when an action takes place
• There are 12 basic verb tenses in English

Present Tense

• Used to describe actions that are happening now
• Formed using the base form of the verb (e.g., I go, you eat, she writes)
• Examples:
  • I am writing a letter.
  • She eats breakfast at 8 am.

Past Tense

• Used to describe actions that happened in the past
• Formed using the past tense form of the verb (e.g., I went, you ate, she wrote)
• Examples:
  • I wrote a letter yesterday.
  • They played soccer last week.

Future Tense

• Used to describe actions that will happen in the future
• Formed using the auxiliary verb "will" + the base form of the verb (e.g., I will go, you will eat, she will write)
• Examples:
  • I will attend the meeting tomorrow.
  • They will finish their project next month.

Perfect Tenses

• Used to describe actions that started in the past and continue up to the present
• Formed using the auxiliary verb "has" or "had" + the past participle of the verb
• Examples:
  • Present Perfect: I have written three letters today.
  • Past Perfect: I had written three letters before I left.
  • Future Perfect: I will have written three letters by tomorrow.

Continuous Tenses

• Used to describe actions that are in progress at a specific time
• Formed using the auxiliary verb "be" in the correct tense + the present participle of the verb
• Examples:
  • Present Continuous: I am writing a letter now.
  • Past Continuous: I was writing a letter at 10 am.
  • Future Continuous: I will be writing a letter at 10 am tomorrow.

Conditional Tenses

• Used to describe hypothetical or uncertain situations and their consequences
• Formed using the auxiliary verb "would" or "could" + the base form of the verb
• Examples:
  • Zero Conditional: If you heat ice, it melts.
  • First Conditional: If it rains, I will take an umbrella.
  • Second Conditional: If I won the lottery, I would buy a house.
  • Third Conditional: If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam.